Ethics_Case_Study

|PHL 215 | |DEAN MACHINE CO.VS MARTIN MANUFACTURING | |CASE STUDY | | | | | |10/25/2010 | | | There are several issues that need to be addressed in the case study of Dean Machine Co. vs Martin Manufacturing before making the decision of how you resolve the issue that Roy Swanson is faced with. The first to address would be the ethical issues. Roy is ethically responsible to provide a sound product to Martin Manufacturing this is on a professional and personal level. On a professional level, being head of quality control, Roy must supply a product that his company would approve of and stand behind. This means the option of regrinding, with the possibility of impurities, or using old components is not an acceptable alternative because it is not likely that Dean Machine Co. would risk impurities in their product or supplying what they are calling a new machine that has used parts in it. On a personal ethical level Roy should also not feel comfortable supplying either of the options, regrinding or using old parts without informing the customer. This is a very basic ethical choice and comes down to a trust and reliability. If he were to use either of the options he would be lying, withholding information and deliberately deceiving, all of which are forms of dishonesty. Factual issues that should be addressed start with Roy and the fact that he overlooked the availability of parts, this is the root cause for whatever choice is made. Secondly the use of old parts was not supported by Engineering and there is a shortage in their supply. Conceptual issues that should be address, one being the possibility of impurities if Roy decides to regrind and install, we are not sure the extent of impurities or that there will be any at all, it is suggested that there is a high possibility of having impurities which is also speculation. Another issue is the use of old parts, there is no assurance that the old parts will work or how long they will work. If Roy wants to solve this problem ethically and responsibility in a way that would benefit his company and his customer without jeopardizing his integrity or the integrity of the company then he needs to inform the customer of the supply shortage of components and suggest two options. The first being wait until the component can be supplied so that the machines are new and not retrofitted or second, he could propose supplying the machines on time with an old component and have a time frame to install the new component when they are available, by informing the customer of the use of the old component for a short period of time he is not withholding information or lying about a product he is supplying to the customer. Even though both options require that Roy admit his oversight or failure as he sees it, it also shows that he can take accountability and is responsibility both ethically and morally for his actions. Resolving the issue in a way that the customer and company both feel good about the outcome shows his ability to problem solve without sacrificing his ethical views on a professional and personal level.